The Bridge: Humanity's Stand
by BlazingPhoenix17
Summary: Seven days had passed since the massive battle that had all but destroyed Solgell Island. Seven days in which the world held its collective breath, unsure how to react to the disappearance of so many (in)famous Kaiju. Some wept for their heroes, while others spurned the villains. One man saw something else entirely. An opportunity for lasting peace.
1. Humanity's Stand

The Bridge

Humanity's Stand

Seven days had passed since the massive battle that had all but destroyed Solgell Island. Seven days in which the world held its collective breath, unsure of how to react to the disappearance of both its greatest protectors and some of its worst enemies. Many mourned the loss of Godzilla and his fellow Earth Defenders, calling out the generals who had ordered the use of the Dimension Tide, while others claimed it was good riddance of dangerous beasts that had threatened humanity one too many times. One man saw it as something else entirely. An opportunity for lasting peace.

Stacker Pentecost glared at the world map hanging over the Operations room, taking in the data it portrayed. Known Kaiju positions, military bases, relative distances, suspected allegiance lists, status reports on the various mechs and jaegers under his command. His mind started drawing lines between positions, analyzing equipment requirements and battle strategies, asset placement and coordination. A plan began to form in his brain. A plan to finally make Earth safe for humanity. "What I want to know is, are we ready?" he finally said, breaking the escalating argument that had been going on around him.

"Ready? Ready for what?" General Tachibana asked. He waved at the map behind him. "Nothing's going on right now. All the Kaiju that are still alive are laying low right now. My scout ships and aircraft haven't heard so much as a peep from any of them since the end of those last battles."

"Maybe they're too worried about Dimension Tide firing again to come out of their holes," General Gordon groused. He tapped the hilt of his ever present katana against the table in a sign of annoyance. "Figures they'd be too frightened to come out without their leader around to rally them."

Miki Saegusa threw a withering glare in Gordon's direction. "And whose fault is that General?"

Gordon stared back at her and said, "Don't try to guilt trip me missy. I'm not the only one who made the call to fire DT." He paused as he felt a familiar ache scratching in his head. "And don't bother with that empathy bullshit. You know it doesn't work on me."

"Miki," Pentecost called out softly. "Now isn't the time." He sighed to himself, feeling the ache of his years of leadership on his shoulders. "What I meant, Taizo, is are we ready for further operations?"

Tendo Choi, who had been reading various reports throughout the conversation, suddenly perked up. "Kiryu and Mechagodzilla are both fully functional and loaded. That new armor alloy they've been given has really proven itself."

"Glad to see something good came out of the Final Wars mess," Colonel Ozaki muttered to himself. Pentecost silently agreed with him. Far too many lives were lost in that never ending disaster. Even six years later the scars of those battles marred cities all over the world.

Tendo hesitantly nodded and continued. "Right. Things are somewhat worse with the others though. Jet Jaguar is currently getting its arm replaced after it suffered heavy damage from Orga, along with a whole laundry list of other problems. That's going to take most of the week to fix. Moguera is physically fine but its control system was completely shot because of an EMP. We think Ghidorah's lightning breath may have done it."

"Actually KG doesn't have lightning breath," Dr. Newton Geiszler interrupted. "What he really fires are these weird gravity beam things. See what they do is they change the gravitational pull of whatever it touches and causes it to be ripped apart by…"

"That's enough Newt," Pentecost said in a dry tone. "If it wasn't Ghidorah then who was it?"

Newt, looking somewhat mollified under all the glares he was receiving, said more slowly, "Based on what I saw it was probably Big G and S releasing all that energy that did it. Or it could have been Leatherback. He's the only Kaiju we know about that has a recorded Emp effect." He started to become excited again as he continued with, "But there's this new Kaiju hanging around in Hawaii that seems to have an Emp too. Plus he can fly and has these really cool neon eye things that…"

Everyone groaned as Newt started describing every little detail of the new Kaiju, only to be interrupted by Professor Gottlieb on how the term was pronounced EMP, not Emp, which started another whole slew of arguments between the two. "How long will it take to repair the damage?" Pentecost asked, ignoring the two bickering scientists to his left.

Tendo snatched his report back up and read from it. "Should be fixed later today sir. Thankfully the damage was mostly to the software, not the hardware, so it was easy to replace. As for the Jaegers, things are a little bit better. Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka only took a few hits in the fighting and both managed to put down an Antverse Kaiju each. With all of the other rampages the mutants have been doing they have numerous injuries but they'll back at 100% later today. Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon are mostly in the same boat but Cherno badly needs an armor upgrade and Typhoon's pilots are very fatigued. Both need a few days before they'll be fully capable again."

Pentecost allowed a grim smile to appear on his face as he looked back at the map again. "That will have to do. We need to be ready as soon as possible."

"Ready for what?" Gordon questioned. "What are you planning Stacker?"

"The end General," Pentecost said bluntly. "The end of this constant warfare that is destroying our planet. We finally have a chance to end this conflict once and for all."

"What do you mean sir?" Miki asked.

"We are going to finish what Godzilla and the others started on Solgell. We are going to eliminate all Kaiju who pose a threat to the Earth and humanity. And we're going to do it now."

Total silence met his proclamation, everyone too stunned to respond. Finally Taizo found his voice and said, "Sir, you know that's impossible. There are too many Kaiju out there for us to take on. Even if we got all of the world's jaegers to join us we would still be outnumbered. Not only that, but any attack on an individual mutant would bring the rest of them down on us all at once. We barely withstood this latest slew of attacks. Defeating them all for good is simply impossible."

Gordon agreed with a grunt and continued, "Even with the new flying battle platforms like Gotengo we would be completely outmatched. Unless you have some way to double our numbers _and_ make sure our enemy wouldn't gang up on us, I don't see how it could be done."

Pentecost smiled and said, "I can do both." He got up and walked to the map pointing out the various known positions of enemy Kaiju. "Our enemy is isolated and leaderless right now. Without Xenilla to lead them, they are divided. We even saw them fighting each other as they retreated from Solgell after the Dimension Tide fired. They lacked any semblance of coordination in this week's assaults, attacking wherever they wanted and retreating after we showed the slightest resistance. The remaining mutants are little more than brutes and monsters. If we strike now we take them down one by one with impunity."

Colonel Ozaki was the next to interject. "So what? Even if the first few fights go unnoticed the mutants will eventually notice what we're up to. And every engagement carries the risk of damage to our mechs. If all of our mechs end up down for repairs too often, then all of humanity will be at risk. _And _if we attack each mutant with our full force at once that leaves the rest of the world open to attack. We just don't have the manpower to do this."

"You're right," Pentecost stated. "The GDF has never had enough power to go on the offensive. We've always been stuck playing a defensive game, reacting to Kaiju attacks and hoping we don't get overrun. But we can't do that anymore. Final Wars showed that if our enemies all attacked at once, we as a species would be finished."

He turned to the map once again and pointed at one of the Kaiju lists. "But we're not alone in this, just like we weren't in Final Wars. The Earth Defenders have as much reason as us to want the mutants gone as we do. They helped to defend us both from the alien threat and from the mutants' rampage. If we work together with them we can overwhelm the mutants and finally make this planet safe for both factions."

Taizo, Gordon, and Ozaki all looked amongst themselves, silently contemplating the idea while Newt, Gottlieb and Tendo started going over the data about the Earth Defenders, arguing about who should fight who and with what support. But there was only one person's reaction Pentecost cared about.

Miki was looking down at her lap, unsure of what to think. On the one hand, removing the mutants for good would be great for both Kaiju and humans. There was no doubting that most of the mutants were monsters of the worst sort, destroying everything that got in their way without concern for anything else. Some, like Obsidius and Titanosaurus, were mostly passive and had even fought on the Earth Defender's side in the past, but the rest had attacked human cities without remorse a dozen times each. With Godzilla and the other strongest guardian monsters gone there was no guarantee the Defenders could fulfill their duty against a unified mutant faction. The temporary peace would not last long. A new war was inevitable.

But none of this would have happened if Dimension Tide had never been fired. Godzilla may very well have won his fight with his evil brother, and the Earth Defenders could have finally been truly victorious. Instead they were betrayed by humans because of an 'irresistible opportunity', as General Gordon had put it. Would the guardians be willing to work with the same humans who had killed four of their most beloved members, including their king? She didn't know.

"How could we possibly convince them to help us sir?" she asked Pentecost.

The older man came over to her and put his arms on her shoulders, saying, "Because if they don't, we're all dead."

(Page Break)

Zilla Jr. yawned loudly as he curled himself up for a nice long nap. It had been several days since he'd been able to get a chance to sleep, what with Monster Island (as he liked to call it) coming under attack and the subsequent clean up after both sides' leaders disappeared in a huge explosion. Gamera had charged Zilla with rounding up all of the good or neutral Kaiju together to explain what had happened and prevent any infighting over the new leadership. Given that he was the fastest non-flying Kaiju he was the best for the job but he had not enjoyed it. Most of the neutral Kaiju did not like him very much due to his strong respect and admiration for humans, whom most Kaiju at the very least were suspicious of. The fact that Zilla had often worked with human mechs in defense of the humans, against some of them at times, did not help matters.

Still, it was an order for a necessary job, so Zilla did it without complaint. Then, just as Gamera had finished explaining what had happened at Solgell, Zilla had been mentally contacted by the humans, who told him about the mutants running rampant all over the globe. The gathered Earth defenders and neutral Kaiju had all been sent to interdict their enemies. Zilla himself had been forced to fight the extremely annoying Buraki by himself. That damned snake had severely tested Zilla's patience and paid for it with a put out eye and twenty feet of missing tail. Much as Zilla had enjoyed the chance to take his rage out on something though, he was very glad it was over and looked forward to a nice long rest in his own little cave away from the others. _Nothing could spoil this moment for me._

_Zilla are you there? I need to speak with you_

_Except that. I just _had _to open my big mouth didn't I. _Gradually Zilla allowed his eyes to open and looked to the entrance of the cave, where the mental voice had come from. _Who calls me? If it's not about the fate of the planet or something then please go away._

_Actually it is. About the planet that is._

Zilla made a deep throated groan which echoed around is cave. _Of course it is._ He stretched his limbs to wake himself up, carving deep groves in the rock where his claws scratched the surface, and began to crawl to the entrance on all fours. He had specifically picked a cave this short so he could ensure absolute privacy from the larger monsters. The only Kaiju that were able to enter his cave were Anguirus and Baragon, the two Kaiju he was closest with to be honest.

All three relied solely on their physical abilities in combat; Anguirus his toughness, Baragon his acrobatics, and Zilla his speed. Working together the three of them had been able to match the Big G himself once, though he'd later admitted he'd been going easy on them. Zilla paused in his movement as he felt a wave of sadness wash over him. Anguirus was his best friend, and Junior was practically the big brother he'd never had, and now they were both gone. It was almost impossible to believe. They'd always been so invincible, always standing against everything ever thrown at them. And then they were gone, without any warning or chance to say goodbye. Zilla was not one to show much emotion, but in the darkness of his cave, he had wept for them.

Zilla shook his head to clear out the unhappy thoughts and finished crawling to the entrance. Sure enough there was a small (to him) human transport with several people gathered outside it. Most of them Zilla did not recognize, but the woman standing at the front was someone he knew quite well indeed. _Hello Miki. It has been a long time since we have spoken has it not?_

The woman smiled up at him. _Yes it has. I'm sorry to bother you just as you were going to sleep, but I need to speak with you urgently._

Zilla carefully lowered his head to the ground near the group, managing to not knock them to the ground at the contact. _What is wrong? I sense you have great concern about something._

Miki clutched her hands in front of her, looking down at the ground as she thought, _There… there is something I need to tell you Zilla, and I'm sure you're not going to like it. The explosion that killed Godzilla and the others… wasn't an explosion._

_Really? _Zilla asked with an eye blink. _Then what was it?_

_It… it was a black hole. An object which absorbs anything close to it and crushes it with its gravity._

Zilla narrowed his gaze at the woman who had been his surrogate mother many years ago. _How do you know this?_

After a sigh that was barely audible even to Zilla's great hearing Miki answered his question. _Because it was not a natural black hole. It was an artificial one created by humans with the intent of killing Kaiju. We… we were the ones who killed them. _

Zilla could not believe what he was hearing. Humans, the very same humans who had saved his life before birth and raised him, were responsible for the deaths of four of his best friends. _But... You… WHY?!_ He roared this last in both mind and voice, forcing the humans to cover their ears at the volume. _WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? WE TRUSTED YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US?! _He rose to his feet, towering high above the cowering humans, his rage filled eyes glaring down at them.

The soldiers who had been ordered to protect the telepath were futilely pointing their rifles up at the humongous reptile, knowing how helpless they were and praying this day would not be their last. Miki was too busy weeping to be afraid as she pleadingly said, _Zilla please! You must understand! They did not mean for Godzilla and your friends to be caught in the blast. They only intended to take down Xenilla and Destroyah. I told them that it was too dangerous, that friendly monsters would be caught in the crossfire but they didn't listen. I'm so sorry that it happened and I wish with all my heart that I could have stopped them. But regardless of my wishes it has happened and we must deal with the consequences._

Zilla was silent for some time, something which deeply unnerved the poor soldiers who were not a part of the mental conversation. Eventually Zilla looked away from the humans, his gaze lingering on some point far away on the horizon. _Of all the ways I had expected any of us Kaiju to die, this was one I would never have predicted. To be killed by a force of nature beyond even our strongest, harnessed by those who we saw as less than ants._ He paused for a moment as he turned his gaze to the heavens above. _Even the beings that came from beyond stars did not threaten us so. It is hard for me to imagine, to grasp what they must have felt in the end._

The squad of soldiers, still understandably skittish about being so close to a kaiju, even one that was supposedly friendly, carefully pulled back to the transport. The captain attempted to drag Miki back with them, but she refused to budge. She just stared up at the creature who she had helped raise as a baby, whom she regarded as closer than even her own family. _I can't understand it either. The science of how Dimension Tide works is beyond my comprehension. All I know is that nothing in the universe can withstand the force of a black hole for very long. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise however. They would not have felt the end coming. _

Zilla gave a soft growl in response, sending the soldiers running in the false cover of their jet, while Miki only nodded at what she knew was an agreement. _You did not come here simply to relay this to me_, Zilla finally said. _There was something more you wanted to speak about. What is it?_

Miki looked up at her companion and saw calm acceptance in his eyes, something which reassured her far beyond words. _I've been sent here to ask for your help. Humanity's leaders have decided it's time we take a stand and end the war once and for all._

Zilla gazed down at her from his extreme height with confusion coloring his tone. _And just how do you propose to do that?_

_By combining human and Earth defender forces and killing the remaining mutants. We'll destroy them before they can destroy us._

The reptilian Kaiju looked down at the human telepath in near shock at her harsh words. While he had been growing up Miki had been the source of so many kind words and arguments defending Kaiju that to hear her condemning the mutants so blatantly was very unexpected. The fact that he had often been at odds with her on this very subject just made it that much stranger. _What prompted this train of thought from your man Pentecost? It was my understanding that he would never dare to attack for fear of reprisal from the other mutants._

_Normally yes, _Miki agreed. _But with Xenilla no longer leading them and so many of the most dangerous mutants also killed by the Dimension Tide misfiring we just might be able to succeed. But only if both Earth Defenders and humans work together._

_Wait what did you say? Those later explosions, the ones that absorbed all those mutants, they weren't on purpose? But I thought you had control of the device that created them?_

Miki nodded. _We did at first, but during the attacks some outside force stole control of the Dimension Tide and fired it at many of the worst mutants. As far as we can tell no good Kaiju were absorbed, and definitely not any mechs, so regardless of the perpetrator's aims they have actually aided us greatly._

Zilla was not sure what to think about that. He had been informed about the events at the other fights and was unnerved at the reactions. Gorosaurus in particular had nearly been absorbed during his duel with Kuromonga, saved only by one of his enemy's webs, ironically enough. Each tale told the same story. A sudden explosion and a sphere of pure darkness annihilating everything it touched. It was terrifying. But regardless of how he feared what this Dimension Tide was capable of, there was no denying the opportunity they were now presented with. _It is oddly fortuitous now that you point it out._ The giant saurian swept his tail back and forth on the ground, wiping away what little plant growth had managed to appear while he was gone. _I cannot help but to agree with you Miki. It is too great a chance to pass up. _He crouched down to look at her more closely. _But I am not the one you need to convince. Gamera is our leader now, and though he holds just as much respect for humans as I, he will not accept your actions as easily as I did._

_No I did not._

Both Zilla and Miki were startled by the interruption of the unexpected third voice, with Zilla's leaping to his feet knocking Miki off her own. Standing on the cliff above Zilla's cave was none other than Gamera himself, and he did not appear to be pleased. _A colleague of yours has already informed me of your plan Miss Miki. I'm not entirely sure I agree with it._ He leaped down from the cliff, firing his mana thrusters near the bottom to land as lightly as a human would in sand. _Despite the fact that most of humanity has disagreed with the firing of your Dimension Tide on my friends, that does not change the fact that your leaders did so without any warning to us, your supposed allies._ He leaned down until his face was but 50 feet away from the tiny human. _And the fact that you lost control of that same weapon to someone who could have used it against us yet again is no more reassuring. Give me one good reason that I should aide humanity in this insanity._

Miki became very quiet then, unable to look at anything but her shoes. After a few moments though she firmed up and looked Gamera straight in the eyes. _Because we need your help. This endless war has cost both our peoples much, and the longer it continues the worse it will become. We have a chance to end it now, once and for all, and ensure peace for future generations. I know that we have wronged you with what we did at Solgell, but do not deny that some of your Earth defenders have wronged us just as harshly._ Miki's eyes began to tear up as memories from her past resurfaced. _For decades we humans have been forced to watch as creatures hundreds of times stronger than us rampaged across our planet, hopeless to stop them and reduced to praying for mere survival. How many thousands of people are dead because of this fighting, how many millions more lives destroyed by loss of home and family. _The image of her parents' hands reaching out to her from beneath her crushed home swam in Miki's mind, clearly visible to both Kaiju.

_While you have been able to fight for yourselves and live your lives in relative peace, we are forced to plow through every day knowing that it could be our last. That everything we love and dream could be ended because of a beast beyond our ability to harm. And when we finally found the tools to defend ourselves from the demons that plagued us, what did you do? You fought with them, simply because they _might_ have been a threat to you, when we knew you to be our allies and had promised never to strike you. We suffered defeat after defeat for only the most meager gains, and each time we triumphed a new threat would appear even worse than the last. King Ghidorah, Gigan, Xenilla, the Alien Collision! All of them seeking nothing less than our extinction. Yes, you defended us from each threat, but that just highlighted how helpless we were. Without you our civilization, our very planet, would be gone._

_But despite this, despite all the pain and suffering Kaiju have inflicted on our planet, we finally have a chance to end it all, to wipe the slate clean and begin again. And to do that we need your help. Even though we have not been the strongest of allies in the past, we are willing to set that aside and work with you for the betterment of us all. To let go of all the hatred and fear and repair what has been destroyed by riding ourselves of the destroyers. Then, maybe there will be a chance; just a chance, that we can all live in peace. As friends._

Neither Zilla nor Gamera spoke for many minutes, both in awe of the woman's speech. For years the two reptiles had argued in favor of humans, aware that they had been here just as long as many of the Kaiju, if not longer. But neither had been able to put themselves in a human's place, feel the fear and pain that they felt from the conflict of the titans around them. Even for Gamera, a guardian monster of the Earth itself, the feeling was humbling. Individually the humans often made mistakes. The events on Solgell were clear evidence of that. And yet for all their faults they had kept on fighting against foes they could never hope to defeat on their own. Kept living in the face of near certain doom. Could he or Zilla have gone on in the face of such odds? Could any Kaiju?

_You are well spoken little one, _Gamera finally said. _And what you say carries a truth I had refused to recognize. Our actions have not always been the most conducive to our alliance either, must as it pains me to admit. Most of our number have dismissed you in favor of their own concerns. Clearly we were mistaken in that. _He knelt down and lowered his face near to the human, a slight smile appearing on his scarred face. _Perhaps it is time for that to end. _He then bowed his head as he said, _On my word as a Guardian of Earth, we will aid you in your coming fights against our shared enemy and bring about a permanent peace for both our peoples. This I swear, so mote it be._

Tears flowed freely down Miki's face as she ran to the giant turtle and hugged his chin resting on the ground. _Thank you! Thank you so much!_

Zilla, quietly smiling his own smile, turned away from them both and said, _I will inform the others, _before sprinting off for the center of the island.

Meanwhile the captain of the soldiers felt the pounding footsteps and poked his head outside, shouting, "Miss Saegusa, is everything alright?"

The young woman sniffed, wiping the remaining tears from her cheeks as she turned around to answer. "Yes Captain." A brilliant smile lit up her face. "Everything is going to be just fine. Contact Marshall Pentecost." The smile morphed into a proud smirk. "Tell him we have our reinforcements."

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Hello readers of The Bridge, and welcome to the other side of the barrier. Some of you (like me) while reading Tarbtano's awesome story may have been wondering just what was happening on the human side of things while Equestria gets more and more hectic. Well, me being the obsessive time sink that I am, I decided to fill in the blanks for myself and anyone who is interested. Just to make note, Tarbtano is aware of my story and given it his full approval, (as you can see with the very first review) so all of what happens here might as well be canon. That said, I will be interfacing with him as much as possible to ensure that I don't throw a human wrench into his well oiled kaiju/pony plot machine. _That _said, *note to self, find new segues*, humanity's overall involvement with the main story is probably going to amount to... zilch. The Dimension Tide is broke, the unnamed Big Bad (my money is on it being Bagan, but that's just me) is focusing entirely on Equestria, and as this story will show, humanity has problems of its own to deal with. Much awesomeness and glory will soon ensue, so tune in next time for Humanity's Stand: The End War. BlazingPhoenix17 flame out.


	2. Preparing for the End

Humanity's Stand

Preparing for the End

"You can't be serious."

Gamera groaned yet again as the latest Kaiju displayed his disapproval of the strengthening of the Earth Defender-Human alliance. For the past three hours Kaiju had been pouring in from all corners of the island, most of them irritable at the very least about their interrupted sleep. The turtle guardian had planned to wait until everyone had arrived before explaining his decision but had been forced to go over the events repeatedly by impatient allies who really only wanted to go back to sleep. As a result he had had to start his story over multiple times, each time becoming more frustrated with the situation, to the point he started wondering if there would be an Earth Defender faction left to aid the humans by the point he finally finished.

Thankfully the latest interloper was also the last, though this promised little respite given who it was. "You expect us to just accept this alliance that _you _made without having spoken with any of us beforehand. Especially since we know that it was the humans who got us in this mess in the first place!"

Gamera glared back at the incensed monster, regretting his sharing of that tidbit of information somewhat. "Yes Gabara, I do. In case you have somehow forgotten in the last few days, **I** am your new leader, and if I say that we are helping the humans, then we are helping the humans."

The green skinned beast snorted petulantly and replied, "And what if don't wanna, huh? You can't make me fight for your stupid alliance. I'm going to stay here and catch up on my Tanaka-damned sleep, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise."

Gamera did not have a chance to respond before Zilla did it before him. The saurian swiftly grabbed Gabara by the ear before he could react and pulled the toad's face to his own. "Listen here you idiot ogre. You've always been a pain in the rear for every Kaiju on this island ever since Godzilla let you stay with us. Every time we go out to fight our enemies you whine and complain about having to do the slightest thing. You're arrogant, lazy, and severely lacking in personal hygiene. Tanaka only knows why Junior put up with you as long as he did but here's something you need to learn right now. I. WILL. NOT!" Zilla then threw the taller Kaiju to the ground before planting his foot on the other's scaled chest. "Follow our commands, listen our reasons, and be a good little Kaiju, or I will make sure you'll never be able to set foot on this island again. IS! THAT! CLEAR!"

Gabara glared hatefully up at the saurian but said nothing, knowing better than to further provoke Zilla. The other Kaiju remained silent, though most of them were subtlety smirking at the brat's misfortunes. Despite being technically one of their allies, none of the Earth Defenders particularly cared for Gabara, let alone respected him. Still, better he was (nominally) on their side than fighting for the mutants. No matter how annoying he was.

The argument restarted when the bat-like Varan said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Gabara. Sort of." The green kaiju, who was rubbing his shoulder where he'd landed, hissed at Varan in annoyance, but was otherwise silent. "Even if joining the humans would give us enough strength to kill the remaining mutants, how could we possibly trust them? You yourself told us that they purposely fired that weapon of theirs at us in hopes of catching Xenilla and Destroyah. They didn't care about how many of us might have gotten in the way." Several of the other Kaiju nodded or growled agreements with the smaller creature's statement.

Gamera gazed back at his questioner, face blank. "I understand your hesitance, all of you. Despite our shared enemy in the mutants, we have always been in conflict with the humans. Our interests are often very different and we have both done things to harm the other. Yes, they fired their weapon knowing that some of us could be caught in the blast, but they did so to kill a pair of monsters who were a threat to the entire planet. Many humans also mourned our losses and have called out the leaders who ordered it. Even with all of the damage we have done to them over the years, both on purpose," his gaze shifted to several of the neutral kaiju, who had the grace to look guilty (save for Gabara), "and on accident, they care about us enough to regret our passing. Have any of us truly thought of the many deaths humanity has had to suffer through even when we are actively aiding them? How many Kaiju have we lost in comparison?"

Many of the Earth defenders looked amongst themselves, uncomfortably aware of how much truth was in their leader's words. Kaiju deaths were exceedingly rare, given how insanely tough they all were. Even the Antverse Kaiju, notorious amongst the humans for their relative frailty, took quite a bit of effort to completely kill. Mortally wound and send running home for repair, yes. Outright killing them? Not so much. The other side of the coin was much less pleasant for the humans. Even though most of the Earth Defenders tried to fight the mutants before they could reach human cities, sometimes they were forced to engage them inside those cities, which never went well no matter how cautious they were. And several of them were much less cautious then they should be.

"That may be true," Gorosaurus said, "but it does not change the fact that they are still a threat to us, just as we are to them. What guarantee do we have that they won't try to eliminate us one day?"

It was a valid question, Gamera knew, and one he had given plenty of thought to. For the most part, when the mutants weren't rampaging at least, Kaiju and humans left each other alone, with the Kaiju living on far away islands or in distant wilderness relative to human civilization. The problem was just how long such a status quo would last without a common enemy uniting them. Gamera had been watching humanity grow for eons upon eons, but these last few centuries had seen the smaller species expand in ways he would never have predicted. In truth, he expected that humanity would surpass them in less than hundred years. The fact that they had survived the endless onslaught of enemies so much larger than them for more than half a century was nothing short of remarkable. Even the change after the events of Final Wars was staggering. Despite having more than half the planet under simultaneous assault by both alien militaries and more than two dozen kaiju, humanity had managed to hold its ground and eventually push them all back with the assistance of the Godzilla lead Earth Defenders. Now they had improved their war machines to be a near match to even the strongest of the Kaiju. They just lacked the numbers to win on their own.

"The simple answer to that, Gorosaurus, is that there is no guarantee. At present there is no major reason why the humans may not one day decide that Earth would be better off without any Kaiju at all. And given just a few more decades, they may be able to do just that."

Many of the Kaiju stared at their leader in shock at his bluntness, as well as the idea of the long protected humans rising up against them. It took them some time to accept the possibility of that happening. "What do we do then Gamera?" asked a tightly coiled up Manda.

Gamera responded with, "We give them a reason. Many of you have not had a chance to look closely at human history, but I have. They have a remarkable ability to forgive and forget, and aiding them in finally bringing peace to the planet would create the good will we need to end the animosity between us. If we prove that they have nothing to fear from us and that we are willing to fight against their enemies, then they will be willing to let us live in peace. For the sake of both of us, we must let go of the past and fight for the future." He pointed to each Kaiju in the circle as he continued in a louder voice, "For the last sixty years we have all had to fight for our very lives. What kind of cowards would we be if we ignored this chance to end it all? Will we lay back and let our enemies destroy everything we fought for?"

"NO!" Baragon cried, as several of the other Kaiju roared in agreement.

"No, we will not! We will fight with the humans! We will kill the ones who have harmed us for all these years! WE WILL END THIS WAR!"

A chorus of roars echoed around the valley in answer, causing dozens of little avalanches all around the group. To any humans listening it would have sounded like a hurricane had shouted in earth-shattering rage. When the roars finally subsided Gamera said in a commanding tone, "Go and sleep. Rest your bodies and prepare your minds. Next week, the end will begin."

The group separated at his words, many of them growling in anticipation of what was to come. Gabara was the only one who didn't seem the least bit excited and was giving Zilla a look of sheer loathing while sparking some electricity around his hands.

Zilla just grinned cheekily at him and said, "What are you still doing here Gabby? Didn't you say something earlier about how sleepy you were? Now's your chance."

The green creature gave a (slightly) menacing growl before turning away. Zilla chuckled a bit and commented, "That's a good boy Gabby." Gabara rapidly faced the saurian, rage evident on his face and looking for all the world like he was ready to commit murder when he remembered that Gamera was there as well. Reluctantly, and after giving Zilla an even more hate-filled looked than before, he turned and stalked off. Zilla made a double click, similar to a human dismissing a dog, which caused the ogre to pause for a moment before stomping his foot and leaving for good.

"You should not taunt him like that Zilla," Gamera reprimanded. "Of all the Earth Defenders left, he is the only one I worry about controlling."

Zilla just grunted and replied, "He's nothing more than a bully Gamera, and the best way to control a bully is to show them who's boss. He may hate me for it, but he also has to respect me, and that means he will listen to what I say, whether he likes it or not." A smile appeared as he said, "Nice speech by the way."

Gamera turned away from his fellow reptile and gazed out at the sea, groaning as he did. "I hate giving speeches."

"So does Miki, yet you both seem to have a knack for it," Zilla commented as he stepped to his leader's side. "Weird how that works out huh?"

The turtle guardian could not help but chuckle. "I suppose it is." They both stood quietly on the cliff there, looking without seeing the sun rising above the waves. "It is quite likely that some of us will die in this conflict you know. I do not expect us all to survive unscathed."

"I know," Zilla responded quietly. "I won't pretend that I'm not scared. Not with you at least. Many of the mutants are stronger than us, and there are a whole lot of them out there. Even with the human's help this is going to be a very close fight. I'm not sure we can even win. But it would be a disgrace to the Big G's memory if we just let the world pass us by. One way or another we're going to finish this once and for all." Zilla slammed his tail against the ground in punctuation of his statement.

Gamera looked at his friend, his face a grim mask. "There is something I must tell you Zilla, but you must promise me that you will tell none of the others, at least not yet. I do not wish to give them false hope. Or fear, as the case may be."

"What are you talking about Gamera?" Zilla asked curiously.

"The Dimension Tide did not kill any of the Kaiju it hit. Instead it transported them across time and space to another world entirely. Godzilla, Mothra, Anguirus and Rodan are all still alive."

"THEY ARE!" Zilla cried joyously. "How do you know? Where are they? Are they alright? Is there any way they can get back home?"

"Easy Zilla," Gamera said as he laid a soothing hand on the lizard's shoulder. "Let me answer your questions before ask too many. I know they are alive because I have spoken with them. Or one of them at least. Mothra managed to contact me with a telepathy spell." Zilla groaned, prompting Gamera to pause and ask him, "What is wrong?"

Zilla just shook his head and said in an annoyed tone, "Magic that's what. I don't like magic. It's too unpredictable, not to mention dangerous."

Gamera, himself a creature created through magic (or something close to it) quirked an eye-ridge at him and said, "And what's so bad about magic hmm?"

Realizing what he had just said and to whom he had just said it, Zilla hastily said, "Not that all magic is untrustworthy of course. I just prefer to deal with science or natural stuff. At least with them I can understand what's going on."

Gamera simply rolled his eyes. "Getting back on topic, Mothra informed me that she and the others are all safe and sound, though not without a few… changes."

"Like what?"

Gamera coughed for a moment, remembering the rather… odd form Mothra had assumed. "I would rather not say. It is somewhat complicated. As for your other two questions, the land they are in is called Equestria and they are working with the land's inhabitants to find a way home. Nothing is available at present, but there are several possibilities they are looking into." Gamera's face grew grim as he continued, "That is where the good news ends I am afraid. Xenilla and Destroyah are there as well, and though they have managed to avoid a fight for the time being, there is no telling how long that will last. Even worse is the fact that all of the mutants and aliens who were struck by the Dimension Tide were also teleported as well. Mothra does not know where they all are, but whoever fired the Dimension Tide at them knew what it would do and took all of the strongest of our enemies for themselves."

Zilla stared down at the ground, brooding about what he'd heard. "So none of them are actually dead. Even if we clear out the Earth of the remaining mutants, the worst of them are still out there somewhere, under the control of someone we don't even know." He swept his tail back and forth nervously. "Not the nicest of thoughts."

"No, it is not," Gamera agreed. "But it does mean that killing the remaining mutants is even more important than before. If or when our friends return, they will need all the help we can muster to face what is arrayed against us. Removing the threats from Earth will mean both we Kaiju and the humans can concentrate on this unknown enemy whenever they make their move."

Zilla huffed, his gaze still turned towards the ground. "Makes sense that you wouldn't want to tell anyone else just yet I guess."

Gamera smiled reassuringly and patted his friend's head. "Fret not, Zilla. Mothra is hard at work finding them all a way home and she has some very good help too. Miss Sparkle seemed rather intelligent for a purple pony."

Zilla had been nodding along as Gamera spoke but froze when he heard that last word. He quickly turned to face his friend and asked in a rush, "What did you just say?"

Gamera stammered for a moment before saying, "Ah, yes, that. The inhabitants of the land our friends arrived in are apparently sentient ponies and our friends have been transformed into ponies themselves. I have no idea how that came about but magic seems to be very common there so it is not completely improbable."

In all the time Gamera had lived on Earth he had never once seen a kaiju's jaw drop like Zilla's did just then. The guardian monster was almost worried his friend had dislocated something because of how far it dropped. "Are you alright Zilla?"

"Ineedtochecksomething." Then, without even so much as a backward look or sign of hesitation Zilla leapt off the cliff into the water several hundred feet below. Gamera starred after him in stunned silence, unsure of whether he should follow the saurian or not. Eventually he decided to let his friend go and get some rest for himself. If it was important Zilla would tell him about it later.

* * *

><p>"You have got to be shitting me!"<p>

Marshall Pentecost sighed at the annoying but entirely expected shouting that came from the youngest of the Jaeger pilots in the room. He had gathered all of the controllers for his various mechs and jaegers together to brief them on the plan for what he was calling the End War. Most of them had reacted in the way most soldiers did to the announcement of planned hostilities. Stoic acceptance and quiet focus on what would be required of them. One of them did not do that though.

"You honestly expect me to trust those damn monsters with protecting _my_ back while I'm fighting for my life against the monsters _they_ have failed to kill for years? Are you out of your fucken mind?!"

"Enough!" Hercules Hansen shouted. "Remember who you're speaking to sonny. Pentecost is your commanding officer and you will treat him with the proper respect. Understood?"

Chuck Hansen, still visibly seething in impotent rage, managed to contain himself enough to say, "My apologies sir."

Pentecost gave his signature death glare to the young man and stated, "It will not happen again."

"Yes sir," Chuck said in a much steadier voice. "Sorry sir."

The Marshall let his tone soften as he said, "I understand that you are reluctant about this, Ranger, but I have a solid guarantee from the Earth Defender's leader that they will fully cooperate with us in battle and they have promised peace afterwards. There is no debate about that."

"Sir," Raleigh Becket said, "how exactly is this going to work? Every time we've worked with the Earth Defenders before we've had trouble trying to coordinate with them. We spend almost as much time avoiding their attacks as actually fighting the mutants."

"He's right," his copilot, Mako, agreed. "I have looked at the history of our fights alongside the Defender's, and each time our effectiveness was barely increased. We need to have a way of communicating with them during combat for our efforts to succeed."

Pentecost nodded at his surrogate daughter. "That is why every pilot team will be including a telepath in their drift. The telepaths will be able to contact the Defenders and keep them appraised of our strategies."

Aleksis, one of the pilots of the Russian Jaeger Cherno Alpha, scoffed and asked in his deep voice, "And where would we get that many compatible telepaths from?"

Miki took up this chance to enter the conversation, saying, "Common knowledge would say that is a problem, but in actuality all telepaths are compatible with anyone in a drift. Normal drifters are actually just partial telepaths who can only use their abilities with the aid of drifting technology." Most of the pilots were surprised by the information, but Mako just smiled at her sister knowingly while Raleigh shrugged.

"We will be spending the rest of this week running drills in the simulator to get everyone adjusted to the new setup. Any questions?" After a moment of silence he dismissed them, giving a lingering look at Herc and his son, whose face was one of carefully concealed anger.

As they were leaving the door opened to reveal a middle aged Asian woman wearing a doctor's lab coat entering the room. Upon seeing her both Mako and Miki rushed over and pulled her into three person hug. "Asuza-sama, when did you get in from San Francisco?" Miki asked after she and her sister finally let their adoptive mother go. "Why didn't you call us to let us know you were coming?"

The doctor's eyes twinkled with mirth as she responded, "Well, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you I was coming now would it?" The three of them all laughed, Miki's bright giggling contrasting with her sister's quieter chuckling. "To be honest, dears, I didn't have much time to warn you anyway. Marshall called me as soon as he knew you had succeeded Miki, and I had to catch the quickest flight I could. I still don't like flying in those darn Concords. Much too fast for an old woman like me."

Mako rolled her eyes at her mother's joking and gave her another tight squeeze before departing after her waiting partner, promising to meet her later as she left.

Pentecost, who had been silently smiling at the heartwarming scene at the back of the room, asked "Will the telepaths be ready for training tomorrow Dr. Gozo?"

"Hopefully, if any of them can even get to sleep tonight," she said with a huff. "That's another thing I don't like about hypersonic flight. It's supposed to make jet lag easier to deal with by arriving within a few hours of your departure, but that just makes it even more confusing. Instead of a day long flight, which most passengers are probably going to sleep through, you have a flight about as long as a short car trip, meaning your internal clock _thinks_ it's acclimated to the local time, but it's even more off than it would be normally. It's utterly maddening."

Pentecost just stood there and listened to her rant, having heard his colleague go off on the same topic practically every time she was forced to use it. Even with his legendary composure he still had a hard time keeping himself from cracking a smile at her antics. "They've done it before. I'm sure they'll manage this time." His tone grew softer as he inquired, "How are you feeling?"

Asuza's eye's dimmed slightly as she recognized what he was really asking about. "I'll be fine. I'm…" She took a deep breath. "I'm sure that wherever he is, he's in a better place." Tears started to roll down her cheeks. "I just wish I had a chance to…" Her voice trailed off as she started to sob in earnest. Miki, whose own eyes were just as watery, drew her mother into a hug and held her as they both cried.

"If it's any consolation, I deeply regretted signing off on the order to fire the Dimension Tide," Pentecost said to the two weeping women.

"I know," Asuza said as she wiped the wet streaks off her cheeks. "I made sure of that."

Though he did not visibly react, Pentecost's mental grimace was very strong. _That_ had not be a pleasant conversation. His bodyguards had actually burst into his room to make sure he was safe, only to receive their own earful from a then volcanic Asuza before she turned her attention back to him. As if his own guilt had not done the job of chastising him enough on its own. After a moment of thought he sighed and said, "There is something I have not informed you about…"

Suddenly alarms started blaring all around the room. Pentecost immediately ran to his desk and slammed the button for the central command room. "Tendo, what is it? What's been detected?"

"Kaiju signature in the Pacific about 200 kilometers away from us sir, and its closing fast! We're still trying to identify who it is."

"What do we have on hand for combat?" Pentecost asked as he brought up the readiness lists on his monitor. Miki and Asuza stood at his shoulders, grimly watching the man work.

"Horizon Brave is the only one on deck in the area sir. Should I contact the Chinese to get it sent out?"

Pentecost's answer died in his throat as a satellite image of the incoming Kaiju appeared on his screen. Miki gasped in his ear and quickly said, "That's Zilla! My god, I've never seen him swim that fast before."

"What's his speed Mr. Choi?" Asuza inquired.

After several muted beeps Tendo's voice was heard. "What? No, that's not possible, check it again. What do you mean you've already checked it?"

"His speed Mr. Choi," Pentecost ordered.

An audible gulp was heard before Tendo answered with, "90 knots sir. Maybe a little more, the waves make it hard to tell."

None of the three spoke for a moment, the silence only broken by the sounds of conversation from the command room. "What is the record for a kaiju swimming on the surface Mr. Choi?"

"The previous record was..." he paused as he entered in the requisite search, "uh, 76 knots sir. And Zilla was the previous record holder as well. So… do you still want me to contact the Chinese?"

"Negative, Mr. Choi. Alert all Shatterdome personnel that it is a friendly Kaiju and to return to repair work on Mogurea and Jet Jaguar. Then met us down on the launch deck. We're going to see what our saurian friend needs to tell us.

* * *

><p>Sometime later (but much less than expected) lookouts on top of the Shatterdome reported the first signs of Zilla's approach. Ship traffic near the southeast entrance to the harbor had been cleared in advance, which thankfully resulted in less disruption than expected. As the Kaiju began to enter the bay, waves thirty foot high preceded him. While in the past such high torrents would have resulted in a danger of flooding for the city near the Dome, anti-flooding walls of more than 80 feet had been erected in every coastal city or town that was susceptible to kaiju attack. The walls made shipping moderately more difficult and beach tourism was all but eradicated, but the safety of the citizens took precedent.<p>

Pentecost, Miki, Asuza, Tendo, Taizo, Gordon, and Ozaki all stared down at the mound of water that was rapidly approaching the mountain Shatterdome was built into. The landing pad around them was still bustling with activity, though many workers also sat idle in curiosity at the sight of the approaching creature.

"I wonder what has him so spooked," Ozaki commented to himself.

"Whatever it is," Gordon responded, "it probably isn't good. Zilla doesn't scare easily."

Miki nodded and leaned forward, concerned for her friend. "Are you sure none of the other Kaiju are reacting to his coming here?"

Taizo checked his personal tablet then shook his head. "Everyone else is still on Solgell. Looks like they all decided to bed down for the day. Or week, possibly."

Though not a common trait of all the kaiju, many of the large beasts were noted to spend long periods of time asleep, some staying unconscious for weeks or even months at a time. The activity baffled biologists, though to be fair to them the kaiju did make a mockery of previously established science just by existing. Many had given up hope of ever understanding just how the kaiju really worked, though maybe a lasting peace would give more opportunity for lasting study.

Finally Zilla began to slow as he neared the base of the mountain, the forward waves of his displacement lapping at the lower launch doors of the facility. The giant lizard breached the surface with a massive splash, parts of the spray reaching up over the lip of the launch pad. His subsequent shake-off of the water sliding down his scales looked for all the world like an explosion of rain for a brief instant, prompting a slight chuckle from Doctor Gozo, who never ceased to amaze at the activities of kaiju. Once he was clean, Zilla reached out with his clawed arms and climbed the bare rock of the mountainside until he could poke his head out over the launch pad.

Everyone who had been managing to focus on their assigned tasks stopped now to gaze in awe of the creature above them. Several of the soldiers present snapped off a salute to the friendly kaiju, while both Gordon and Ozaki gave their ally a strong nod of respect.

The quiet moment did not last longer though, as Zilla mentally shouted in the direction of his telepath friend, _GODZILLA AND THE OTHERS HAVE TURNED INTO PONIES!_

Miki, the only human who could hear the kaiju's announcement, could do naught but tilt her head to the side and say, "What."

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Flame in. Hello again readers, and welcome to the next exciting installment of the End War. What do you mean its not exciting yet? Oh come on people, I gave you Zilla bullying Gabara into submission, what more do you want? Full on fighting? Uh... that's coming. Soon. Probably sometime next chapter (I hope). Hey, proper warfare takes time alright. You don't launch into it halfassedly unless you want _your_ ass kicked. Anyway, most of this chapter is just talking, or shouting, with a little bit of world building and character introduction thrown in. Fret not. War will come, and it will not stop until either the world is destroyed, our your minds are. I leave it up to you which is the better outcome. Flam... oh and about that ending. Hehehe. AHHAHAHAHAHA! I just couldn't resist. But don't worry. It gets better. He he. BlazingPhoenix17, Flame out.


	3. Incredulous Questions

Humanity's Stand

Incredulous Questions

A panicked gasp sounded from a woman's lips as the mound of debris beneath her shifted dangerously. She held perfectly still, muttering a silent prayer to herself as the pile of wood, drywall, concrete and fluffy pink insulation stabilized. The woman chuckled at the thought of a certain pink being's reaction to such a situation and calmed down significantly. She let out a sigh of relief as she pushed some of her dark red hair out of her eyes and started to pick out a path down to the ground. Her footing was nearly lost once again when she heard a familiar shout and looked in the direction of the sound.

"Hey Lauren, are you alright?" A tall, curly haired man appeared from behind a partially collapsed wall and made a beeline over to the woman. "I heard something falling."

"I'm fine Craig," Lauren said as she slid down the last few feet on a mostly intact wooden beam. "Just had to get a view of our surroundings."

"How's it look?" Craig asked as he wiped some dust off of his wife's shoulders, much to her amusement.

"It's bad, but it could have been a whole lot worse." The red head waved her arm in the direction of the swath of destruction that lay behind them.

According to the news reports they had both read on the plane flight here, the large saurian kaiju Agon had shown up from a nearby beach and promptly started wreaking havoc with the small town of San Simeon on the California coast. Almost as soon as he arrived, however, the Earth Defender Manda had dragged her enemy by the tail back out to sea through the air before engaging him in combat. Nobody actually saw the fight, but GDF reports stated that Agon had been successfully driven off at the cost of a broken forelimb for Manda. Saurians, even weaker ones like Agon, were not to be trifled with. Now, everyone from members of the National Guard to local volunteer forces was scrabbling all over the damaged town, trying to catalog the damage and start the long process of rebuilding.

Craig sighed as he looked around at the destroyed house they were standing in. "Still pretty bad though." They both stood in a moment of silence, remembering the lives that had been lost. "So," Craig asked, "any particular plans here, or just the normal run-though?"

Lauren was about to answer when they both heard someone coughing nearby. Husband and wife sprang into action, searching underneath every board and beam for the source of the noise. Eventually Lauren found the originator, a small, brown skinned girl who had to be barely more than five years old. She was trapped under a large piece of drywall, though thankfully she appeared to be unharmed. The red headed woman reached under the offending debris and heaved with all her might, but it refused to budge. "Craig," she called out, "a little help here?"

Her husband showed up almost immediately and quickly lifted the wall and threw it off to the side. There weren't many times Lauren reflected on her husband's hybrid ancestry, but it did have its occasional uses. Once the girl was free Lauren reached down and pulled her out, releasing a small cloud of dust along with her. After everyone had cleared their throats with a round of coughing, Lauren gently set the girl on the ground and asked, "Are you alright little one?"

The girl nodded hesitantly and looked down at her lap. She then suddenly scrambled over to the hole she had been trapped in and reached down into it, trying to grab something. "What's wrong dear?" Lauren asked as she crouched down next to the girl. "What are you looking for?"

The child looked up at her petulantly and cried, "Want Twily! Twily aqui!"

Lauren had an idea of what the girl was talking about and said, "You stay here and I'll go get it okay?" She nodded her understanding and crawled over the Craig, who was sitting down on a pile of broken wood. Lauren carefully dropped down into the hole and rummaged in the dust, her hands searching for what she suspected would be a familiar shape. Sure enough after a moment she found a small cloth doll, one covered in dust and with more than a few stain on it, but it was still a recognizable equine. Lauren smiled to herself, then climbed out of the hole and made her way to the little girl, who was playing patty cake with Craig. "Is this what you were looking for honey?"

The girl looked at Lauren and her face lit up upon seeing the doll. "Twily! Estas buena!" She hugged the doll close to her, the rest of the world lost to her in that moment.

"You know," Lauren said, "I actually know Twily quite well."

"Really?" Lauren would swear that she could see the girl's eyes shimmering, though that may have just been some of the leftover tears of joy.

"Yes. She's one of my best friends. In fact I'd say I know her better than anyone." Craig covered his mouth to stifle his chuckling, while Lauren sent him a look that said 'hush you'.

The girl looked down at her doll in awe, but then her face fell as she asked, "What about Mama y Papa? Donde estan?"

Lauren bit her lip, worried that this story may not have a happy ending. When she saw how scared the little girl was though, she steeled herself and said. "Don't worry. We'll help you find them, won't we Craig?" The curly haired man nodded and stood up, pulling out his radio to contact the refugee camp being set up on the beach. While he did that, Lauren asked, "What's your name dear?"

"Maria," said answered quietly.

"Well Maria," she said the last loudly enough for Craig to hear, which he added into his report, "do you want me to tell you a story about Twily?"

"Si, si!"

Lauren smiled at little Maria and sat down on the ground next to her, back up against a still standing piece of wall. "Once, when Twily was still a young filly, she got separated from her parents during Nightmare Night. She was really scared and didn't know what to do. She spent hours wandering around Canterlot, with no idea where to look for her family. Then, to her great surprise, who should she meet but Princess Celestia herself!"

Maria was hanging on her every word, gazing at her in sheer awe. "What did she do?"

"Well the Princess saw that one of her ponies was sad and asked her what was wrong, and when she learned of how Twilight had gotten lost, she decided to help her find her family. It took them most of the night, but they finally found them, and everyone was happy again. Twily tried to thank the Princess for helping, but Celestia was just happy her ponies were happy. And after that, Celestia bought the night to an end and let the day begin again. It was because of that day that Twily grew to look at Celestia as her hero, and did her very best to live up to her example. That is why Twily is so strong, because she worked hard to be the best she could. And one day, many years later, her hero looked back at her but she didn't see a child."

"What did she see?" Maria asked.

Lauren smiled. "She saw a friend."

Just then Lauren heard a shout from Craig, causing her to look up and see her husband pointing at two people approaching them. "I bet that's your parents right now. Why don't you go say hi to them?"

"Mama! Papa!" Maria ran over to them as fast as her exhausted legs could carry her, Lauren and Craig following closely behind.

"That was a great story Laur," Craig said with pride. "Maybe you should put that in the new season."

The red head laughed and replied, "If I can find the room for it. Most of the season is already planned out. I might be able to fit it in, maybe in a breather episode or as a flashback."

"What would be the lesson in it then?" Craig lifted a beam that Maria had simply run under, allowing his wife to pass underneath.

"How about that, even though your mentor is a major part of your life, you can't forget that it's your life to live and that sometimes you have to let those you look up to just be your friend. You know what, I am going to put that in. It would be a good way to show Twilight's humility after all that craziness with Tirek."

The couple paused in their conversation when they heard Maira say, "You're not mis padres."

The taller of the two people, an Asian man with untamed black hair and dark eyes, ignored the girl at his feet and said, "Are you Lauren Faust?"

"Yes," Lauren called out. "Who's asking?"

The man's stern gaze sharpened as he said, "Major Kazama Kosugi, second in command to Colonel Ozaki and head of the Hybrid Combat Teams. Your presence is required at GDF headquarters in Hong Kong."

"What for?" Craig questioned as he sized up the Major. The hybrid soldier was wearing an all-black outfit with translucent, plastic looking armor pieces strapped to various points around his body. His numerous pouches and pockets bulged with various weapons and ammunition, including a nasty looking dagger. Craig had plenty of experience with his own hybrid abilities, which Lauren had used as inspiration for the Earth pony species' subtle strength, but he somehow knew that this Kazama could break him over his knee without even a sweat.

The other man, who was slightly shorter with wavy brown hair and a warm gaze, said, "We've found some interesting information that requires your assistance in interpreting." He looked apologetic as he continued, "I know that you want to stay here and aid in the rebuilding effort, but this is very important. You are the only one who can help us."

Lauren folded her arms over her chest, glaring at the two men. "Why me? What could I possibly know that's related to anything the GDF would be worrying about?"

The kinder one rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face. "It's… hard to explain. But honestly we do need your help."

"And I don't think two missing volunteers is going to matter all that much," Kazama said dismissively.

Craig growled at the other hybrid, but calmed when Lauren placed her hand on his shoulder. "Fine," she finally said. "I will go with you…" Kazama nodded and the other agent breathed a sigh of relief. "… after I help this little girl find her family."

The soldier groaned in annoyance and kicked at a piece of wall, which was pulverized into dust at the contact. The brown haired man however just crouched down to look Maria in the eyes and asked, "Could you think about parent's please dear?"

"Okay," she said and then closed her eyes, concentrating.

The man smiled and held a hand up to his heard, placing two fingers against his temple, and adopted his own focused concentration. After a moment he opened his eyes and stood, saying, "I don't think finding her parents will take very long."

"How do you figure that?" Craig asked.

"MARIA!" Everyone turned to where the shout had come from, all but one surprised to see a man and woman running through the crushed houses at full tilt. Maria got up and started running to them as well, her doll flopping back and forth in her hand as she called out, "Mama! Papa!"

Lauren turned to the brown haired agent and asked, "How… how did you…"

He just smiled and said, "Telepathy has plenty of uses, but it works best when you have the person's permission."

She turned back to the family, who were locked into a group hug and crying tears of joy. Lauren looked back at the revealed telepath and said, "Thank you so much Mister…?"

"Xavier," he said while holding out a hand. "Charles Xavier. Pleased to meet you."

Lauren shook his hand gladly and was about to thank him again when she heard little Maria say, "Lady! Hey lady." She turned to the little girl, who was waving at her wildly, urging her to come over. Lauren laughed and said to Charles, "If you'll excuse me for a moment."

Lauren walked over to the family, her grin only getting bigger as the two parents started thanking her profusely in rapid fire Spanish. But best of all for her was seeing the little girl gazing up at her in pure joy, her eyes blazing with happiness. That smile, that expression of hope, that face saying that maybe there was more to the world than just unending darkness. That was what Lauren lived for.

"Just like your story lady," Maria said with a flourish. She held up her tattered Twilight doll and asked, "Does this mean I like Twily?"

Lauren nodded and said, "Yes dear, just like Twily."

Maria's smiled widened and she hugged the doll again. Then she looked up at Lauren and asked, "Will I ever see you again?"

Lauren patted the girl's head and said, "Just keep watching my show dear. I'll be there whenever you need me."

Maria wrapped around Lauren in an impressive bear hug for such a small girl then waved goodbye as Lauren walked back to the two GDF agents. Lauren waved back, glad in her heart that she had been able to help that family get back together. Now if only she could figure out just what the Global Defense Force wanted with a semi-famous animation director for a little girl's show.

* * *

><p><em>Let me get this straight. You swam over one thousand miles at the fastest speed you have ever done, on minimal sleep and energy, just to tell the GDF that Godzilla and the others had turned into ponies?<em>

Zilla glared at Gamera in annoyance. _Didn't I just get through explaining this to you?_

Zilla went back to eating from his huge pile of fish, leaving Gamera to chuckle to himself. The turtle guardian had been sleeping calmly back on Solgell island when he felt the physic call from Miki. The turbulent feeling behind the telepath's thoughts had prompted Gamera to leave immediately, but by the time he'd arrived she had calmed and redirected the kaiju to where Zilla was currently resting. Now the two giant reptiles were sitting peacefully on a mountain near the Shatterdome, the younger one wolfing down hundreds of pounds worth of fish with each bite. _You sure do eat a lot of fish don't you?_ Gamera asked with a smile.

Zilla paused in his meal to retort, _Well excuse me mister Mana-being, but not all of us can subsist solely on the background energy of the universe. Besides, I usually eat whales or the occasional Kamoebas when I can. And if the GDF is kind enough to give me a few tons of leftover fish, then I'm not going to complain._

Gamera laughed a bit and fell silent, letting his friend chomp down on the tiny dead creatures. _I still do not understand what all the fuss is about. Sure, the thought of our friends being shrunk down to tiny colorful mammals is amusing, but it does not seems to be a major problem._

_It's not that Godzilla is now a pony that has everyone worked up_, Zilla said after a particularly large gulp,_ though I'm pretty sure several of them are laughing their asses off at the thought of it. What's really strange is that the world that they are in exists here, in our universe, as a _children's TV show! _Do you know how impossibly unlikely it is that, out of everywhere our friends could have ended up, they landed in a place that humans made up for the sake of _entertainment?

Gamera placed his hand on his chin in thought. _When you put it like that, it does seem rather odd._

_Too odd. _Zilla snapped up the last of his fish in a flash and let out a mighty belch which knocked over several of the young trees on the slope. _Some of the scientists think that this is too unlikely a coincidence to have just happened naturally. They suspect that someone, or something, may have deliberately sent them to Equestria, though how or why, no one knows._ The satisfied saurian laid down on the ground and curled up his tail. _Combine that with the hijacked Dimension Tide shots and some of the humans are feeling pretty skittish right now._

_But why? What possible purpose would anyone have for sending our friends to such a place?_

Zilla shook his head and said, _I don't know, but I get the feeling that whatever it is, it can't be good. _Both kaiju fell silent, contemplating and worrying about the unknown.

Sometime later, the two kaiju heard a stir of sound down below them. A large tiltjet was approaching the upper landing pad.

_What do you figure that's about? _Zilla asked.

_You said they were bringing in experts to try to explain more about Equestria, correct? Perhaps that is them._

Zilla nodded comfortably before settling back down for sleep.

* * *

><p>"So who exactly are we meeting again?" Paterson asked as he shrugged on his ballistic vest over his security uniform. A helmet soon followed, the drab gray plastic covering up his carefully groomed blonde locks.<p>

Sarah groaned at her chronically inattentive partner. "Did you even hear anything the Captain was saying in the briefing? You know, the one that _just ended?_" She was already fully dressed for the mission, though some of her chocolate brown hair still managed to sneak past her forehead and hang in front of her eyes. Just the way she liked it.

"Oh come on Sarah, you know what Pat's like," Amanda admonished as she swapped out her ordinary sneakers for soldier's boots. "As soon as he hears the words 'Escort Mission' his ears turn off."

The other woman just rolled her eyes and turned back to Pat, who was busy wiping some nonexistent dust off of his arms' armor panels. "One of these day's we're going to get an actual combat mission based around escorting a VIP, and you are going to get your sorry ass killed because you weren't paying attention."

Pat held up a hand to his ear and said loudly, "I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you. My ears are turned off. Not sure how that happened."

Sarah responded by throwing an empty pistol clip at him, while Amada just laughed at their antics. Then a loud voice shouted from the entrance, "If you kiddies are done messing around, then maybe we can get to work."

Pat was the first to react, instantly standing ramrod straight with a salute and yelling, "Captain on deck!" The other two stared slack-jawed at the officer for a moment before they recovered and mimicked their partner's pose.

"If I recall correctly that is a naval phrase, and I don't believe any of you are in the marines." Captain Gondo walked into the room, his permanent smirk doing its thing and putting the soldiers at ease. He was a large man, easily over six feet tall, and bulky enough to outsize the female members of the squad by nearly double. Despite that, he was a very easy-going guy, always ready for a quick word or a snappy joke. He also routinely defeated every other guard in the simulation trainer, along with many of the jaeger pilots (solo and in teams), and even some of the hybrids. When your job is to guard a base that was full of hybrid special forces, telepaths, and all sorts of new weapons tech, you tend to have a lot of free training time on your hands.

Pat smiled cheekily and said, "Well that's obvious sir. We're way too skilled to be marines."

Gondo laughed and slapped the young man's shoulder, staggering him slightly. "Damn right. No soldiers under my command will ever be as pathetic and useless as a marine. Isn't that right!?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Good to hear. Now," he said as he waltzed around them to his own locker at the back of the changing room, "if you're still confused at all about who we are after…"

Both girls glared playfully at Pat, who whistled innocently under the stares.

"… then allow me to enlighten you." He pulled out a small pocket tablet and tapped the screen a few times. He then turned the device around and showed his team a picture. The woman in the picture had deep red hair and a kindly face holding a slew of big headed girl's dolls in her arms. "This, ladies and Pat, is Lauren Faust, creator of the children's TV show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. We're bringing her in for… consultations."

Sarah gaped at her commander in utter bewilderment, while the other two squad members looked as though Christmas had come early.

"Bu… but why? Sarah sputtered. "Why the hell… I don't…"

Pat was practically hopping in place by this point. "Oh this is fantastic! I have sooo many questions for her. Do you think I can get her autograph?"

"Wait, you actually watch that crap?" Sarah asked.

Both Pat and Amada glared at their friend while Pat said, "It is not crap, Sarah. It is a wonderful show full of excellent characters, beautiful animation, and teaches meaningful lessons about friendship and harmony."

Sarah held out her arms in confusion and said, "But it's a girl's show! A _little _girl's show! About _ponies_!"

Amanda folded her arms and said, "There is no age limit on watching the show, and no reason grow-ups can't enjoy it just as much as our children can."

Latching onto what Amanda had just said, Sarah tried to clarify, "So you just watch it with your kids then?"

"Well that's how it started," Pat said, "but over time I just started to like it on my own. Heck, I'd say I'm a bigger fan than my daughter at this point."

Sarah just stared back, at a complete loss for words. Amanda rolled her eyes at her squad mates and asked Gondo, "What do you think Cap?"

Gondo just shrugged, almost completely dressed in his combat uniform, and answered, "I don't watch much TV. Besides, I'm more impressive with the woman's philanthropy career. According to UN records she and her husband have donated over twenty million dollars to various charity organizations around the world, and have gone on forty different volunteer missions to places damaged by kaiju attacks and even natural disasters. She's had enough medical training to be a one woman Red Cross, and her husband is apparently an excellent organizer." He smiled at the stunned looks of the squad. "One thing's for sure. This is a woman on a mission, and she'll go through hell or high water to get it done."

The Captain finished the last few straps on his gun belt and said, "Alright I think that's enough yapping for now. Let's get on up to the upper landing pad." With that, the small squad picked up their rifles, safeties on of course, and made their way to the elevator at the end of the hall. After they piled in and started up, Amada turned to her CO and asked, "Why exactly are we bringing Lauren in sir? Not that I'm complaining, it would be awesome to meet her, but what use could the GDF have for her?"

"You know, I could have sworn I just said no yapping." Amanda raised her eyebrow at the man, and he relented with a grunt. "Fine, but you didn't hear this from me. Is that clear?" Everyone in the elevator nodded their accent. "Alright, you all remember how Dimension Tide was used on Solgell to kill Xenilla and Destroyah? Well as it turns out those black holes it fires don't kill their target, they just transport it to another universe. And I'll give you one guess where all them Kaiju ended up."

The entire squad gaped at him, bemusement and confusion evident on their faces. "You can't be serious," Sarah said.

"Oh I'm serious. And it gets better. Apparently the monsters aren't even in their actual forms. They've been turned into ponies themselves."

More silence ensued, until Pat suddenly started laughing so hard he could barely stay standing. "You… ha ha… you mean to tell me that Godzilla, King of the Fucking Monsters, is now a tiny little pony? Ahahahaha."

"It is pretty ridiculous, isn't it?" Gondo said with a chuckle. "But weird or not, it is what happened, so we need to know everything we can about where they ended up."

"Why?" Amanda asked. "If the monsters are in Equestria, then they can't be a threat to us, and there's no way for them to get home right?"

Gondo shook his head. "According to what Zilla and Gamera told us, they just might be able to come home. Depends on if they can get the local magic to work hard enough. That and the worries some of the scientists have about the other monsters that were struck with the DT. There's no telling where they ended up, so getting Godzilla and the other Earth Defenders back would be extremely helpful. And goddamn these elevators are slow!"

They all laughed, all intimately familiar with the snail-like pace of the elevators during non-critical periods to save on maintenance problems. When they needed to, these lifts could push themselves to ludicrous speeds, but doing so played hell with the electromagnets that ran them. Finally, the bell dinged and the doors opened onto the hallway leading to the landing pad. Everyone took up their rifles and marched down the hall, Captain Gondo at the head. "Try to be polite kiddies. And save your fan-girling for after her meeting with Command."

The doors opened and the squad emptied out onto the pad. This pad was much smaller than the one down below, meant for transporting important persons securely into the facility. There were only a few technicians waiting outside, ready to refuel the transport for immediate departure if necessary. "How soon till the plane gets here?" Gondo questioned one of the techs.

The man, a Hong Kong local, responded in quick Mandarin, which Gondo quickly translated.

"Just a few minutes he says." They all gather together in the center of the pad, and sure enough there was soon the sound of jet exhaust approaching. The tilt-jet turned in to land, waves of hot air washing over the squad as it set down. They all stood at attention as the side door of the vehicle opened and the occupants spilled out. At the head of the group was a woman with the same red hair as in the picture.

"Miss Faust, welcome to the Shatterdome. If you'll please follow us, we'll take you to Command and we can get started right away."

"Of course," she said firmly.

With that the group turned and began to head back inside. Then a series of gun shots rang out. Gondo was the first to react, whirling around in an instant with his rifle trained toward the sound, only to run face-first into the barrel of a pistol. The other squad members didn't have much more of a chance as they were tackled to the ground and forcibly separated from their weapons. A quick look confirmed that the technicians had been killed without warning or remorse, something that angered Gondo greatly. The squad was quickly disarmed and stripped of all ammo, then cuffed and dragged together.

"Who the fuck are you?" Pat screamed in rage. "What do you want?"

The enemy soldiers removed covers on their shoulders, revealing a patch with a blood red sun emblazoned with fire. The woman at the head tore off the wig she was wearing, letting her dark black hair fall free. She grinned with a predatory smile and said, "We are the Red Dawn, harbingers of the will of our gods, and we will now use humanity's worst offense to cleanse this corrupt race from the world." Her gaze turned to Gondo, and she leaned in close to him, saying, "Lead us to Dimension Tide."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Flame in. Hello everyone and welcome back to Humanity's Stand. Why yes, MLP: FiM does exist in this universe. How very interesting. What are the odds of that? Its almost as if someone was watching human civilization and deliberately manipulated the DT to send whatever was hit there. But come on, that's just idle speculation right? _Right? _I think you guys can see why there were many 'why's being thrown around in here. And before anyone asks, no mutants (X-men mutants at least) do not exist here. I'm just using Charles' name because its easy to recognize. Gondo is one of the heroes from Godzilla vs Biolante, and the second most badass normal human in the Godzillaverse, after Gordon of course. And as for these here terrorists at the end, well basically just picture an animal-rights group who worship Kaiju as gods and believe humans are a blight that needs to be erased. And they had covert support from Kaiju war profiteers all over the world. After all, the longer the Kaiju war goes, the more they profit. Next chapter the GDF will have to fight a war within that threatens to ruin the End War before it can begin. BlazingPhoenix17 flame out.


End file.
